


Ellipsis (You can’t remember me)

by Pyrachan



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Brain Damage, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-11-05 12:49:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11013759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyrachan/pseuds/Pyrachan
Summary: It was an accident at the lab. It wasn't Kaito's fault that Chris now had permanent brain damage. The Chris that everyone once knew was just gone, leaving practically a stranger in his wake. Thomas, Michael, Byron and Kaito must all come to terms with that in their own ways, though it's harder for some than for others. (Set post-series)





	Ellipsis (You can’t remember me)

**Author's Note:**

> The five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Sometimes they are not necessarily in that order.

_“You need to come home right now, Thomas. It’s Chris. There’s been an accident.”_

* * *

“Dad! Michael! Where are you?” IV slammed the front door open and ran inside. He managed to hear a faint call from the living room and IV veered away from the stairs, dashing through the corridor. “Michael?”

“We’re here.” IV reached to open the door but III opened it for him on the inside. “Nii-san, please don’t shout.”

“What’s happened? Where’s Chris?” III looked away from his older brother, eyes wavering a little. He didn’t say anything, only gesturing to his brother to go take a seat.

At this time, the living room would usually have a tray of III’s baked goods on the table and a pot of tea poured out for whoever wanted one. However, today there were only a few documents were spread out on the coffee table, Tron pouring over the papers instead of being in his usual spot on the couch. Behind him sat V, dressed in the turtleneck sweater he wore to work this morning. He seemed lost in thought, but looked unharmed.

“Aniki!” III shot his brother a look but IV continued yelling, “Oy! What happened to you? Are you okay?” V didn’t reply. “Hey! I’m talking to you! Hey! Look here!”

“Thomas, calm down. He can’t,” Tron said, looking up from the papers, “He… can’t do much right now.”

“How can I be calm? You call me while I’m at a Duel Conference and then tell me that shit! I want to know what happened to my brother! You both look like he’s died!” IV didn’t fail to see his father and younger brother share glances with each other. “Start explaining!”

“… Alright…” Tron stood up and sat down on the couch next to V. Taking their cues, IV and III sat down across from them. “Faker, Kaito, Chris and I have been looking in to various ways humans can enter the fused Astral and Barian world. Recently, we developed a prototype portal, and we were doing the final configurations on it.”

“And Chris was in that portal? Why did you send him in there?” IV scowled.

“I didn’t. The portal wasn’t ready… but today Kaito and Chris were both working on the mechanical aspects of machine while Faker and I were doing the physics. The long and short of it is that they triggered something and there was an explosion… no… a shockwave. Chris was hit by it.”  

IV looked at V- trying to see what his brother and father were talking about- and the man was already confused. Nothing was wrong… right? V looked fine. A long and heavy pause weighed down in the room until III moved to place his hand on IV’s knee in comfort.

“I’ve had a doctor look at him," Tron continued, "He seems to have a large portion of his motor skills incapacitated as well as his brain. It shows signs similar to frontotemporal dementia, though we’ve established he doesn’t have dementia of any kind physically…”

“Wait a sec! Don’t tell me this science shit! Tell me when this happened! A doctor has checked this, right? When was the accident?”

“Ten hours ago.”

“TEN? And you only just told me?” IV jumped up, looking almost livid. V looked slowly up at him. “I thought this happened when you called me! Not ten hours ago! Ten!”

“We didn’t know if it would be permanent.”

“What’s permanent?”

“I said it before… but just talk to him. Please be quiet and talk to him.” IV couldn’t believe what confusing bullshit he was hearing. However, he decided that talking to V would get the answer out faster, rather than wading through Tron's cryptic nonsense. He walked around the table to his brother, looming over him. V just stared.

“Aniki? Chris?”

“… Aaan… nniki?” V looked exactly the same, but sounded like a small child, lost and confused in an unfamiliar place. The word was broken and slurred a little, sounding nothing at all like V's usual sharp tongue. “Who…?” IV paled considerably.

“Aniki, don’t you recognise me?”

“I… I don’t…know…”

“It’s me! Come on, Chris… please tell me you’re joking.” IV knelt down and grabbed his brother’s shoulders firmly. V flinched, stunned and at a loss from the simple gesture. His hand moved shakily to try and brush him off, but he didn’t have enough control over his hand to push his brother away. “Aniki! It’s me! Thomas! Don’t you recognise me? Or Michael? Or dad?”

“I… I can’t… I… I…” IV could see V’s eyes fill with tears and it finally hit him just how damaged V was. Confused and in a near-panicked state, IV tightened his grip, making V wince. 

“Do you not know anyone? Anything? Come on, Chris!”

“Thomas, please calm down.”

“Calm down?!” IV glared at Tron, “Why should I be? One good reason why!”

“He’s still here,” III said calmly, “He could have died…”

“I know that! He’s here and he’s not leaving again, because he promised! But… Look at him! He doesn’t know us!” Hot tears began to roll down IV’s face as he looked up at his brother. “Chris… We just got our brother back less than a year ago, and now, we’ve lost him again!”

“No… Don’t… cry… Tom…” V whispered. The attention immediately turned back on to V. The man tried to raise his hand again, but he couldn’t. “T-Tom…”

“Aniki! Do you remember us? Remember us at all? What we've been through? Anything?”  

“I’m… sorry… I…”

“Nii-san…” III put his hand on IV’s shoulder. IV didn’t know when his younger brother had gotten up. “We’re still together, and we’re a family. That’s what matters the most, right? Chris will get better. He definitely will.”

“… S… sorry…”

* * *

 

V struggled to do anything by himself. He could walk just fine, but he lacked most of the coordination in his hands, making even the most menial task impossible. It was hard for III to watch his older brother struggle to pick up a pen or stumble over words in a simple book, so he often volunteered to watch his older brother.

“I’m home!” Tron had somehow convinced him to not drop out of school but now III came straight home to care for his brother instead of staying after class for Numbers Club activities. He placed his shoes neatly in the cupboard and hung his bag up before entering the living room. “Dad? Nii-san?”

“A-ah…” III headed to the kitchen and found V by himself on his knees, shakily trying to pick up a broken cup. Water covered the floor, diluting the small dribbles of blood that dripped into it from V’s hand. V looked up, eyes watering. “M…Michael…”

“Nii-sama! Your hands!” III helped his older brother up and, careful not to let either of them step on the glass, led V to the sink. He examined V’s palms and fingers, relieved that there were only shallow cuts and no shards had wedged themselves into V’s skin. “What happened?”

“I… wanted a… drink…” V said slowly, wincing slightly as III began washing his hands. “… Sorry…”

“Don’t be sorry, it’s alright. Where’s dad and Nii-san? Where's dad and Thomas?” V’s face scrunched up as he tried to piece together what III was saying. III let him think and went to get the bandages for V.

The pantry was stocked filled with food, but there was a drawer filled with medicine on the very top shelf. III rummaged through it until he found an old medical kit, recognising it as the one from his childhood that IV had kept after all these years. While the inside had newly stocked medicine, creams and bandages, the outside was worn and covered in childish scribbles. III couldn’t help but smile as he spied his name on the side, just underneath V’s tidy writing and IV’s lazy scrawl. They wrote that when they were kids, on the day he had scratched his knees and V had to bandage him. Seeing it now was a painfully ironic, in it's own way, if not just a sad juxtaposition.

V had always been the one to look after them. He had been the mother that III had never known. V was the one who looked after both IV and III before they were sent away to the orphanage. V was the one who had taught them to read and write; he was the one who cleaned up their messes and covered their backs when they needed it. The memories were blurred, since the time in the orphanage and the events of the Duel tournament long overshadowed them, but they were still there, just enough of a recollection to remind III just how different things were between then and now.

V was in silent thought when III came with the bandaids. III had put three bandaids on and was opening a fourth before V finally spoke again.

“Father… emergency at work…” It took a second for III to realise that V was finally responding to his earlier question, “Thomas… I… don’t remember.” III wasn’t surprised that V didn’t know where IV was. Even though he was technically taking a break from tournaments, IV was rarely home and it wasn’t much of a mystery why. “Sorry…”

“I said it was alright, Nii-sama,” III smiled up at him. V was silent, still looking worried. It was an expression he had seen countless of times in his childhood. “Here… We’ll go and sit down and then I’ll clean this up and get you more water. Relax.”

“O… Okay…” III smoothed the air bubbles out of V’s bandaids before he paused. Silence passed through between them before III delicately lifted his brother’s hand and kissed his fingers, right over the bandaids. “Mi… Michael?” V asked, confused.

“You used to do that for me all the time when I was hurt,” III smiled softly, “You would always kiss my bumps and cuts better, even when I didn’t want to look stupid in front of Nii-san."

“Did I? I… don’t remember… I’m… sorry…” III got his older brother a plastic cup filled with water and gave it to him. V held his cup with both hands and III put his hands over them, looking deep into his older brother's eyes.

“It’s alright, Chris. Just keep resting and you’ll be back to yourself in no time, you’ll see.” V’s mouth turned to mirror III’s in a smile and he nodded. Satisfied V was calm, III seated him in front of the TV before he went to clean up the mess.

V wasn’t supposed to be handling anything breakable; III wondered who left V alone and made a mental note to interrogate his father and brother when he got the chance to see him. Tron would be easy enough, but tracking down IV was another matter altogether. III knew both of them loved V very much, but it was evident that the already-pervasive distance had widened between their family members.

Back when they had moved in to their old mansion, III had known that V, IV, III and Tron would never be the same family as Chris, Thomas, Michael and Byron. There was resentment and regret still lingering between all of them, but III had always dreamed that they would still be close- that they would be happy together and put those negative feelings behind them.

III loved V so much. However, even he knew that they weren’t going to have that same, happy family because of V.

* * *

 

“Faker!” Tron’s fist connected with Faker’s stomach, but despite Tron’s best effort to make the other man hurt, Faker took the hit well. “This is your fault! Fix it!” Tron couldn’t stand the way how Faker looked at him; eyes soft and filled with sympathy. At least when he hated him before, Faker was a magnificent bastard, not some concerned friend who pitied him. Faker was quiet, and Tron wished he was taller so he could sock the other man in the face. “Faker!”

“Byron…”

“Why didn’t the portal work? Kaito and Chris managed to build one by themselves without any problem! Why did this one fail?” Tron shouted. He grabbed Faker by his shirt and yanked him down, his galaxy face sparking the furious reflection of his heart. Faker sighed and stared back calmly at the swirling vortex of blues and reds.

“Byron… You know that it’s more difficult to get to the fused Barian and Astral worlds than one or the other. Chris and Kaito also built their portal in a more energy-aligned plane than the one we’re making here.”

“That doesn’t explain why it blew up! If that’s the case, then the energy from the portal should have been weaker! Chris has lost his mind, and you and your brat are fine!”

“Tron!”

“YOU TOOK MY CHILD AWAY FROM ME! AGAIN!” Tron shouted. Tears began to well up in his golden eye and he gritted his teeth. “I only just got back with my sons after being away from them for so long! This is your fault!” Tron pulled and tugged on Faker’s shirt, “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you and get my revenge properly this time! This is all your fault… Both you and Kaito… you killed Chris!”

“Byron, if you have any respect for your son, you’ll stop yelling at once! He’s not some thing and he’s not dead! Just because he’s not the same, doesn’t mean he’s not your boy. He’s still there. It’s no one’s fault, and you know it, Byron.”

“Someone is to blame!” Tron yelled. His half face was screwed with taunt rage, distraught amongst the thousands of coloured swirls. “There’s no way… No way this… this could happen! Hasn’t my family suffered enough? Have you seen my son? Have you? Chris barely recognises me at all! He just sits there, confused and scared. That’s not Chris! Chris wouldn’t be accidentally ripping pages out of books out of frustration, or pouring cereal on the floor! He shouldn’t be struggling to remember his brothers’ faces!” He slammed his hands against Faker over and over again, gasping in desperation.

“Byron, calm down.” Tron found strong, thin arms around him, and Faker’s presence suddenly shrouding overhead. Despite Tron’s fierce struggling, Faker hugged him tightly.

“Calm down? Why should I?” Faker sat down on the floor, taking Tron down with him like he would any child. Tron slammed his hands against Faker’s chest, but the taller man stubbornly kept a firm hold on Tron. “I hate you! I hate you! I’m going to kill you! I want my family back to how it was… and my son…” The blonde clung on to the man’s shirt, gasping and shuddering. Tron suddenly felt a lot smaller than he already was, and a weight made itself known on his shoulders again, shoving him to the floor. “Let go of me… I hate you…”

The echo of his voice resounded through the lab, becoming a haunting whisper of anguish. The two friends sat there, Faker looking at Tron with nothing but sympathy.

“Byron… I had Haruto distant from me too once, but-”

“Don’t… Just…” He shuddered and his fierce anger dissolved into tears. He tried to stifle them but Faker’s gentle rubbing encouraged him to just keep noisily sobbing. “I… Astral and Barian energy are stronger together than either on its own; Haruto healing was already a miracle… but Chris can never recover. Just because of one mistake that someone made and- Oh god… What if I was the one who did this? It could have been a miscalculation or a misprint on the paper that the boys followed and…” As Faker soothingly rubbed his back, Tron tried to catch his breath back from the sudden onslaught of sadness.

“Byron, it’s no one’s fault. Don’t put this guilt on yourself,” Faker murmured, mind wandering to Haruto for a split moment. The circumstances were wholly different, but Faker imagined that Chris and Haruto shared similar ideals. “Byron… Chris wouldn’t want you blaming yourself.”

“No… he wouldn’t. Chris always was the most rational and calm of all of us, even at a young age. He would always do what was practical, and holding grudges after I returned to normal wasn’t one of them,” Tron murmured, wiping his nose on his sleeve. “You know, he was first to go make amends with Kaito, even though he’s not nearly as ready to forgive as Michael. He was always determined to care for this family and look out for everyone. He was a good son. Despite his faults, he was a good boy and didn’t deserve this. I wanted… I… I…”

“Shhh… It’s okay.”

“…I failed my son as both a scientist and a father. I should have… There had to be some way we could have stopped this.”

“We can’t change the past… but we won’t stop trying to fix the future. We’ll look for some way to return him back to normal, Byron. I promise.”

* * *

 

IV really wished that he was touring as the Asian Champion right now. Sure, meeting with his adoring fans, challenging tough opponents and keeping business was exhausting; but he found that he’d rather be running himself ragged than be at home. With III having school and Tron at work, taking care of V would often fall to him.

“T-Thomas…” IV looked up from his duel magazine over to V next to him, “Are you… still mad?”

“… It was only the first fucking duel disk I ever got,” IV muttered, looking back immediately to the latest cards of the week, “it’s fine. I know you didn’t want to smash it. You just did. Just like Michael’s new D-gazer…”

“… Sorry…” V looked back towards his screen, but he didn’t look as comfortable watching the serene images and calming music anymore. IV did his best to ignore it. He was done for the day- he had been trying to help V to write, but it was possibly the most infuriating thing he had ever done. V just didn’t get it. The whole day, he had been caring for the man and now he just wanted to just have some time for himself. At least his father would be back soon.

Before IV could get immersed in the world of continuous trap cards, V stood up off the couch. The red-head looked up at his brother, eyebrow raised. “Chris?”

“I’m… going to get a… a tissue.”

“Oh… Okay.” IV supposed V wouldn’t screw that up so he left him to his own devices.

V walked slowly to the fireplace, but instead of grabbing a tissue box, the man clumsily opened a glass case, showcasing a beautiful, porcelain doll in a pink frilly dress. Seeing the doll’s bright green eyes, V grabbed her legs as best as he could and pulled her out.

“A-Ah!”

There was a loud crash and suddenly the doll was on the floor, her beautiful face and rosy cheeks scattered over the tiled flooring in thousands of pieces. V’s eyes were wide in horror as he stared at it, hands shaking as he slowly comprehended what had happened.

“NANCY!” IV yelled. The magazine was thrown over his shoulder and IV ran over to V. IV stared in horror as he stared at his most prized possession, frozen in shock for a moment. “Oh my god…  Oh my god…”

“T-Thomas?” IV turned and glared at the frightened V, and any restraint he had snapped. IV pulled V’s hands away from his face so he could shout at him, eye to eye.

“You bastard! You know you’re not supposed to touch her!” IV screamed, “That’s my favourite doll in the entire world! That was the LAST gift I ever got from mum! Why did you take her out of her casing?”

“You… You were sad… the doll makes… you happy.”

“Do I look happy, you idiot?” V flinched, “You probably don’t even know how important it was because you probably don’t fucking remember your own mother! That was mum’s favourite doll! How can you be so stupid?”

“T-thomas… I… I’m…”

“Are you apologising? For what? Being fucking stupid?”

“We… We can fix her… I… I’ll do it.”

“No!” IV suddenly raised his hand. The loud slap seemed to echo through the house and V fell to the floor, caught off guard. “Just leave and stop bothering me!”

“T-thomas…”

“Stop bothering me! You always do this! You've always done this! You say you’re trying to help but you make it worse! I hate you! Get out of here!”

“Thomas!” IV didn’t even notice his father had come home, until Tron was shoving his legs hard. IV took a couple of steps back, narrowly avoiding a shard from the broken doll. “That’s enough!”

“I’m sick of this! Why should we take care of him?” IV screeched, “He never did when we needed him! He left us when we were kids, like you did!” IV kicked the couch, seething. However Tron stared up at him, unintimidated. “I’m not going to feed him or make him walk or help him shit or anything! Why should I care? We should just put him out of his misery-“

“Thomas! That’s enough! You’re acting like a child!”

“I’m acting like a child? Me? Listen, I’m not fucking done! I’ll mouth you and that dumb log all I like! I’m sick of being quiet!”

“Watch what you’re saying about your brother.”

“Why? Because he’s your favourite son? Because he’s exactly like you? Well he’s not now! He’s not anyone! He’s especially not my brother!” He pointed accusingly at V, “That’s only a shell of my brother! Chris is gone! And if Chris won’t leave, I will!” And with that, he turned heel and stomped out of the room.

“Thomas! Get back here now!” IV ignored Tron yelling. He was only supposed to go to his room to cool off, but instead of heading up the stairs, IV sporadically chose to head for the front door when he heard slow, light footsteps coming after him. IV practically tore open the door, storming out before he could be stopped.

The sky was dark and grey and heavy rainclouds masked the evening sky. Slipping on his shoes, IV ran towards the front gate and unlocked it. He could hear the footsteps behind him and he wrenched it open, not willing to deal with anyone right now.

“T-Tom? Thomas?” Just as the lock came off in his hand, IV heard V’s soft voice behind him. Thomas practically growled.

“WHAT?” he whipped his head around, and his harsh, red eyes saw his older brother, looking at him with need. V raised his hand out to his brother, and suddenly IV's anger melted away, replaced with a pang of guilt that ran through IV.

"T-Thomas..." The young man turned and left, but even as he ran he still heard his brother finish the sentence.

_“I’m… S-sorry…”_

* * *

When Kaito was upset, he would immerse himself completely in work. It was no surprise to see him in the lab, sleeves rolled up and working tirelessly on mechanical marvels, but it was odd that he hadn’t stopped even for a break.

Every minute he had was poured into screwing pieces in, or reviewing the plans for the portal- he had no time for rest. This damned portal to the other world had caused this mess with V, and Kaito was determined to do something. Whether or not continuing the hazardous project was helpful was up for debate but Kaito knew he just had to do something.

When the door to his lab slid open, Kaito figured it was going to be Orbital or Haruto bringing him dinner. He kept working, not noticing the intruder until suddenly he was practically lifted up from his chair and slammed into the wall.

“Ack! IV?”

“This is all your fault!” IV shouted, grabbing Kaito’s collar with both hands, “Chris can barely string together a fucking sentence because of your damned experiment! Why? Do you hate him that much? Do you?”

“I don’t hate Chris,” Kaito said, sounding calm, “It was an accident.”

“I’m sure you didn’t. Woopee for you, you fuck,” the younger teen kicked Kaito’s shin and the blonde gave a pained grunt.

“Of course I didn’t. I don’t hate Chris…”

“You haven’t been to see him once! Even Ryoga and Mizael did, and fucking Mizael killed him last year! Just once you could come over and show your face to Chris! Why don’t you go take responsibility over him? You don’t fucking care, don’t you, bastard?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me, I have all night.” Kaito stared at IV for a long time, taking in the situation and noting that IV was wet. IV breathed heavily, panting but still holding Kaito against the wall. Kaito waited for IV’s breathing to calm before he took IV’s wrist and, gently yet firmly, pulled him away.

“Go sit down. You’re freezing.” IV shrugged but sat down anyway. Kaito passed him one of his clean towels from his workbench and looked off towards the half-repaired portal.

The portal looked similar to the one V and Kaito had made in the arctic, but a lot smaller. Even though it was half finished, it still was an impressive feat- the structure was maybe twice the height of Doctor Faker.

“Did you have a fight with Chris?”

“He can’t exactly fight back,” IV murmured as he dried his hair, “So what have you been doing all this time? This?”

“Yeah… I’ve made some modifications to the original design and then worked on the prototype. I’ve made sure no one will have that accident again.”

IV glanced over to said designs on the desk, and saw nothing but illegible, scientific jargon that he didn’t care about. It didn’t tell him anything that he wanted to know, and he had come here for some answers.

“If you didn’t purposely do it, then what happened? You were there… tell me. I still don’t know the full story.”

Kaito sighed a sigh that was far too long and deep for someone his age. He leaned against a wall and closed his eyes, collecting his thoughts.

“… I should start off by saying that you’re right. It is my fault that Chris is mentally impaired, but I’d never meant for any of this to happen." Amazingly, IV didn’t yell at him, “When we were together, we were working on the portal. We had the rough framework done, but we wanted to make sure that we had configured everything correctly. I told Chris to stand behind the portal and make sure everything was functioning and I switched it on.”

“And switching it on fucked things up?”

“Yeah… There was a malfunction with the gaskets and the wiring. Chris told me to stop, but before I could switch it off, the influence of the other dimension caused the two normally-stable components to react. The portal collapsed on itself and the excess energy that was released bounced back towards Chris. He went into shock, so I called our dads.”

“And then a few months later, we’re here.” Kaito nodded. Silence landed on them and IV dug his nails into the towel. “Why? I thought everything would be normal after the whole Numeron Code ordeal… why are we still going through this?”

“It’s just part of life, IV. It’s not fair, especially not to Chris. The most we can do is make the best of it. I’ve learnt from my mistakes and I’ve proofed the portal.”

“You haven’t accepted this though,” IV pointed out, “You’re just hiding from Chris, aren’t you? That’s why you haven’t seen him and you’re up here.”

“You’re not wrong.”

IV sighed. He had come to go wreck Kaito for what happened but now he didn’t have the energy. He had hoped knowing the truth would instantly resolve everything but his heart was still weighed with what he had done. IV knew the best thing  he could do was apologise to V- if his brother would let him- though that seemed like an impossible task at the moment. IV rubbed his temples and looked up to the older man.

“… So, Kaito, are you going to see him or just brood here for longer?” For some reason, Kaito was surprised by the obvious question, but then he turned away, looking ashamed.

“Would he want to see me?”

“He won’t remember you. He still doesn’t remember Michael and me… but it would do you some good. Think about it. Chris needs a lot of help.”

“You got mad at Chris, didn’t you?” Kaito said, looking back at IV. IV snorted.

“Well obviously I need a lot of help as well. By the way, I’m crashing here for the night. I’m not going back into that rain.”

* * *

“Next time you should try coming home at a reasonable hour,” III yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eye. IV ignored him and hurried in, throwing the borrowed umbrella off to the side. As his older brother went to put his damp shoes away, III went to sit down on the nearby stairs. “Where were you last night?”

“Bumming off at Kaito’s and thinking about stuff,” IV muttered. III raised an eyebrow. “Don’t give me that look. I considered being at Ryoga’s, but there are too many people crashing at his place.”

“Sure…”

“It’s the truth,” IV lied smoothly. He sat next to III, yawning himself. “I need to know when Chris is going to wake up.”

“Chris will try to get out of bed in half an hour, but you should probably see dad before you see him. Dad was pretty worried last night.”

“About me leaving? I’m not going to damn leave, not after all the shit we’ve been through to get here,” IV grumbled. III smiled and leaned his head on his brother’s shoulder. “I might apologise if I’m feeling up to it… I said some pretty gross things.”

“I heard about it,” III said. He could feel IV glaring at him but he chuckled when his big brother put a comforting arm around him. “… It’s hard for you, isn’t it? You have to be the big brother for Chris and me now, right?”

“Huh? Well… I guess so. I’m not cut out for it though- Chris was always the responsible one. He’s got the cool head, I’m just too hot for my own good, in looks and temper.”

“Yeah…” III sighed, “but we should get used to it. We’re not getting Chris back. We can remember him as he was… and how he is isn’t so bad.”

“He is less of a stick in the mud,” III lightly elbowed his older brother, “Well he is. He just has a lot of accidents.”

“At heart he’s the same.”

“I know. That’s why I want to apologise. We both have to take care of him with a smile, not just you.” III smiled at his brother, looking impressed and proud that IV sounded so responsible and really seemed like he was going to do it himself. IV squeezed III's shoulder. "So where's dad?"

“Thomas? Is that you?” The two of them looked up through the stair railing’s patterns to see Tron, dressed in childish, flannel pyjamas. IV pursed his lips together but III sat up and put his hand on his brother’s back, nudging him so they could talk. “Can I sit?”

“All of us assholes on the stairs? Sure,” IV muttered. Tron didn’t comment, he just sat down on the step in front of his sons. III prepared himself in case he had to break up a fight but it didn’t seem necessary as the two men stared at each other, not a trace of anger on either of their faces.

“… Thomas, I’m sorry for yesterday. Is that how you really feel? About your brother and me?”

“...No… I was just frustrated about how Chris was getting all of the special attention and how he just wasn’t getting better. I’m over it, honest. I shouldn’t have said those things.” The words were easy to say to Tron, but they all knew that IV and V would have a much harder time talking to each other. “I’ll try curb my temper from now, I promise.

Tron smiled softly and then suddenly jumped into his son’s lap to hug him. IV yelped but he hugged his tiny father back, glad that the situation had resolved so quickly and neatly for a change. They had enough of grudges- now was for peace.

“You’re both such good boys, taking care of your brother. Thank you… I promise to try make it easier on all of you. It is not fair.”

“It’s fine… It’s what we’re supposed to do,” III said, smiling warmly. IV nodded his agreement. “Now that’s settled… do you want to go wake Chris up? He can sleep in a bit longer, but the sooner the better, right?”

“I guess so…”

“You’ll be fine. Go on, Nii-san. Dad and I will have a full breakfast ready when you guys come down.” IV smiled at that and he passed Tron to III like a doll- despite the indigent ‘I’m not a child’- and started climbing the stairs. He chuckled, listening to Tron's ramblings about how he didn't like being carried like a toddler fade away as he headed towards and into V's room.

V’s room was surprisingly tidy, if not a little plain, and everything looked seemingly ordinary. However, IV noticed there was something new on V’s bedside table and when he walked closer his eyes widened in surprise as he realised what the familiar object was.

“Nancy?” He carefully picked the doll up and looked it over. She was covered in glue but it was certainly his doll, stripped naked so V could fix her. Her face was still thoroughly broken, and the repairs were shoddy at best, but the fact that V had tried to put her back together…

“Tho- Thomas?” IV practically jumped out of his skin, forgetting momentarily where he was. V looked over to him from his pillow, eyes filled with worry. “Y-you’re here…”

“Yeah… Aniki… did you try and fix this for me?” V smiled.

“She… makes you… happy. S-sorry…” IV gently put the doll down and knelt by his big brother’s side. IV tried to open his mouth to say something, but as if he had something in his throat, the words refused to come out. Everything IV wanted to say or to express to his brother was suddenly trapped in him, and only could come out through the tears that begin to well in his eyes.

“Aniki… I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry…” V couldn’t push himself up, but he reached his hand out and ruffled his brother’s hair. IV choked on a sob and buried his face into V’s mattress and V began to gently stroke his hair.

“I… forgive you. Don’t… cry…”

* * *

He really didn’t know how to feel right now. Mustering up the courage to go to the Arclight household took a lot more work than Kaito had thought, but at least the Arclights were welcoming when he got there.  

“Here to see Nii-sama?” III asked. Kaito gave the youngest Arclight a curt nod and didn’t reply. He was saving whatever words he could capture for Chris. “Well, he’ll be glad to have you here. Nii-sama likes guests. He’s in the living room right now.”  The pink-haired boy gestured Kaito forward and lead him to the gold and red room. V was sitting on his favourite red couch, looking at a book that was on his lap.

“Nii-sama... Chris… You have a visitor.” III then slipped away to go talk to their other brother, leaving the two men alone.

For a moment, it seemed like V hadn’t gotten the message, but he slowly looked straight ahead. Kaito felt stunned for a moment, not sure what to do, especially when V didn't look at him.

“Hey Chris… How’s it going?” Kaito asked. V stared up blankly in front of him and Kaito made the conscious decision to walk into his field of view. V seemed a little relieved to see the person who had spoken now in front of him, but the man still tilted his head, looking puzzled.

“Where… we… going?”

“Oh… No… It’s just an expression, Chris. I mean, how are you feeling?” Kaito said quickly. V nodded slightly and smiled at him.

“I… am… okay.” He really wasn’t, but that earnest smile made it hard to think otherwise. “Your… name?”

“Oh… my name is Tenjo Kaito, you used to be my mentor. You taught me how to duel and how to protect my brother. We were… we are friends.”

“I… see… I… I’m sorry… I don’t remember…” V murmured, looking a bit frustrated that this was yet another thing he couldn’t recall. It hurt, seeing him suffer like this. Kaito so badly wanted to talk to V, to apologise to him, or even to reach out hold him, but he couldn’t find it in himself to do any of those things. “Sorry…”

“It’s fine…”

V looked at the seat on the couch and Kaito took his cue. This was his first time seeing his old mentor since the accident, and V seemed unchanged, bar his speech. Kaito stared at V quietly, grey eyes trying to burn V’s appearance into his brain, as if he would never have an opportunity to do so again.

“You’re here…” V said suddenly after a few minutes, snapping Kaito out of his slight stupor. The blonde nodded.

“Yeah, sorry I didn’t come earlier, there were things that came up.” Even though it was a very obvious lie, V smiled again. “… what are you reading?”

“A book… on… dolls…” Kaito looked to the book in V’s lap. It was a thick book with lots of pictures, detailing on how to sew dolls. “I… want to make… Thomas happy…”

“I see…” Kaito went quiet again but this time he didn't have time to immerse them in silence. 

“K-Kaito? Are… you okay?”

“Chris, I-“ Kaito bit his own bottom lip and closed his eyes. His heart was hammering fast and he found it hard to breathe. Apologising like this to Chris was hard, but he owed it to his diligent mentor to do this, “… I’m sorry.”

“Why are… you sorry?”

“I did this to you. I was careless with the machine. I should have told you to observe from a further distance, or set up a camera and recorded it. If it wasn’t for me, you would have your memories and your real self back. I was supposed to be the one to fix everything, but then I just ran away when you were hurt. I thought fixing the problem would be better, and not you. I’m so sorry, Chris. I’m sorry for not being responsible and hurting you like this,” Kaito looked away from V’s inquisitive eyes, looking at him intently, “You probably don’t remember what you were like before this, so this all probably made no sense to you. I’m just a stranger, aren’t I?” It was odd to feel hurt by saying that, he had been enemies with V due to Tron and Faker for far longer, but even hating each other seemed better than not having an existence in his friend’s life.

“No…” V smiled and put his hand on Kaito’s knee. Kaito looked back up to him and came face with a kind smile. It was one from long ago, when they were both young and innocent and V was helping him up after a rough duel. “You’re one of…my friends. You said so... Please… don’t be sad… Everything will be…all right…”  

“Yeah… I know…” V chuckled softly and Kaito couldn’t help but smirk a little. It had only been ten minutes and V had smiled more than Kaito had ever seen in his life. They weren’t the same reserved, calm smiles that he had come to love, but they were very endearing.

The smile V gave was precious but they were also painful for Kaito. As he casually talked to V and kept looking at his face, Kaito picked up how much he had missed and what V lost. He had to accept that he wouldn’t have the man who would talk endlessly to him and teach him all sorts of new things about the world.

“K-Kaito?” The blonde looked at V again, “Can… you stay? It’s… nice.”

“… Sure. I’d like that.”

“Thank… thank you.” Kaito then promised silently to be there for V, no matter what. At the end of the day, Kaito still had his best friend alive with him, and for that, he was happy.

* * *

“We haven’t been to this park in years… Remember the last time we were here, Michael? Man, we had such a good time.”

“I vaguely recall that you pushed me off the slide and I rolled down crying. Is that what you’re referring to? Or do you mean when you tripped face first into my sandcastle?” III said, poking his brother’s ribs. IV laughed but, between them, V frowned.

“Don’t… get hurt…. Don’t… fight.”

“Oh, no it’s fine, aniki. We’re not fighting, don’t worry,” III quickly reassured him.

“Yeah… we’re not kids anymore.” IV turned back to the scenery, “Man, look at this place. It’s like we never left.”

The park and all of its contents were covered in a light, fluffy sheet of snow. IV could remember a time when both he and Michael would beg V take them to this place- an old playground that practically belonged to them. It was isolated because it had always been so weathered, the twisting metal was worn down and it seemed like it should have long taken down. It was by some miracle that it was still standing after all these years.

“I’ll go get the camera from the car, I’ll be back.” III ran off. Before V could absent-mindedly follow his youngest brother, IV placed a hand on V’s back and lead him towards the swings.

“Come on, aniki… This will be fun.” He brushed the snow off the swing and helped V down. V slowly curled his gloved hands around the chains and looked up at IV questioningly. IV smiled. “Okay… I’m going to push you, alright?”

“…Okay.” Once upon a time it would have been V pushing IV on the swings, and now the roles were switched. However, IV didn’t really mind as he pushed V, making sure he didn’t push his older brother too high. V smiled as his boots skimmed along the ground, making grooves in the snow.

It had been a long time since they could relax like this. Even before, IV had his tournaments, III had school and V had work. They had never even considered the idea of going to the park before or really doing anything as brothers for fun. IV had forgotten just how nice it was to get out of the house and relax.

V liked doing activities outside the house. He liked being included, whether it be watching a movie or helping cook or something else. While they had all been playing a lot of board games together of late, it was Tron who suggested that they should take a step further and all to go play in the snow. V wasn’t exactly suited for any winter games, but he did look like he was having a good time. IV made a mental note to go take V out to Heartland Mall at some stage, or go take a walk to Heartland Tower and the amusement park.

He kept pushing V softly for a while, breathing in the tranquil air. The regular, rocking motion was comforting helped V think, and soon V began thinking about certain things that made the smile on his face fade.

“… Tom… To- Tommy…”

“Yes, aniki?”

“… do… you hate… me?” IV frowned at the sudden question. He stopped swinging his brother and let V come to a stop. V didn’t look at him, he was looking at his shoes dig up the snow underneath the swing, frowning and brow furrowed with worry. It was plain to see that he was genuinely worried about IV hating him.

IV couldn’t help but smile sadly at V. He wrapped his arms around V’s shoulders and rested his cheek on V’s head.

“Of course not. I never did and I never will,” he replied, honestly. “Dad, Michael, Kaito, and me… we all love you.”

“But… They all said… I won’t… heal. Would you still… give me a chance?”

“Well, we all knew that you won’t fully recover… but Dad and Faker said you can get better. I don’t care, though. You’re strong and here, and that’s all I need.” V began turning to IV and IV let go of him. V slowly reached out his shaking hand to pat IV on the head. “Aniki?”

“Thank you for… this chance. You… are… precious to me.” V smiled. IV sniffed and rubbed his eyes with his sleeves, not wanting V to see him cry.

“You are too, you know.”

“And for me too,” III said, smiling. IV looked towards his rosy-cheeked brother, a smile wide on III's face. He suspected that III had been watching for a while, not wanting to ruin the moment. “We’re family, no matter what.”

“Yeah…”

“Shall we take a photo?” III smiled. He passed the camera to IV and the younger Arclights knelt on either side of their brother. IV held the camera out and grinned.

“Smile!” he laughed as he took the selfie. After that, he took a photo of V and III together, and they spent the rest of the day having fun, playing on that old playground and taking photos together. V even took a- rather blurry- photo of IV and III, which he thoroughly enjoyed.

This was all they wanted. They had all changed from childhood, but it didn’t matter, because they were together and they were happy.

“Thank you… for loving me…”

They were happy and that was enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Repost from my tumblr. I'll have new content here someday hopefully. I hope you enjoyed that.


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